A representative for Trump, who is now a front-runner in many polls of the Republican primary, provided a statement to Business Insider that said the incident was “old news and it never happened.” The person also said Ivana Trump made up the “rape” allegation as part of an effort to “exploit” Trump during their divorce proceedings in the early ’90s.

“This is an event that has been widely reported on in the past — it is old news and it never happened,” the Trump representative said. “It is a standard lawyer technique, which was used to exploit more money from Mr. Trump especially since he had an ironclad prenuptial agreement.”

Business Insider interviewed Daily Beast executive editor Noah Shachtman as well, who has a few questions for Donald Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, on the threats Cohen made against the Daily Beast and its reporters for running the story: